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A new gay character has been announced by Marvel Comics in its Uncanny X-Men series, but the comics giant downplayed the coming out as just a “small facet” of his character.

Benjamin Deeds, one of the most recent mutants to be discovered in the series, came out in the fourteenth instalment of Uncanny X Men. He is able to shape-shift, altering his appearance to mimic anyone he is close to.

Joe Taraborrelli, a Senior Communications Manager at Marvel, told the Huffington Post that Deeds’ sexuality was not a big deal. He said: “Continuing with Marvel’s rich tradition of character development and storytelling, this shape-shifting mutant can alter his appearance to mimic anyone he is in close proximity with.”

“The fact that Ben has come out as homosexual is just a small facet of who he is and what he is going to bring to Cyclops’ select team of X-Men,” he continued.

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